347 RE-Power 1996 Limited AWD | Page 2 | Ford Explorer Forums - Serious Explorations

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347 RE-Power 1996 Limited AWD

As things are getting closer and closer thought I would update.

Started late last year, reading posts and asking questions. I decided to go ahead to drop in a built 347 into my 1996 explorer which has over 300,000km (almost 190,000 miles) on it. The truck still runs great BTW, and has been in the family since new and its been in my hands since last Oct.

First impulse was a cheap 1996 complete 1996 5.0L Explorer motor on fleabay. Shipped it to the engine builder to use as a donor.

It is a 347 built by Fordstrokers with a custom cam from Camshaft Innovations.

- Scat rotating assembly
- Mahle pistons
-Trick flow fast as cast 190cc heads
- comp gold rockers
- trick flow Track Heat intake.
- Torque Monster Headers built with the correct exhaust flange.

Other items of note
- 1" phenolic spacer
- 70mm accufab throttle body with modified throttle arm
- 30lb injectors
- 255lbs/hr fuel pump
- re-use the explorer intake elbow 70mm dia.
- black trick flow valve covers
- utilize some of my MAC intake

Supporting items
- 75mm Prom M MAF (Henson Performance)
- Wideband 02 sensor (Henson Performance)
- tuning (Henson)

Other to-do's
- exhaust will be re-done from the headers to cat back with mandrel bent tubing and new cats. Larger mandrel bent intake tubing to match larger diameter of MAF and TB.




This motor is being bolted to a Lentech 4R70W with 2600RPM 11.5" stall converter.

I'd like to thank many people for advice and tips but especially Don - CDW6212R for pointing me in the right direction with Fordstrokers and equally important was providing me with a custom made 28oz balancer with the explorer timing ring machined and pinned on there.

2010man for selling me his 1994 Mustang Cobra OEM crank pulley. This part is not made by ford anymore and has the same diameter of the explorer pulley but bolts to the custom 28oz balancer that Don sent me.

Also Turdle and tmsoko for answering some questions.

here it is at the engine builder


here it is at my shop, patiently waiting. mocked up driver's side header and intake.


Here is a used 70mm accufab throttle body next to a stock explorer 65mm TB. I modified the arm on the TB to match the location of the stock explorer linkage so both the throttle and cruise cables/linkages with match up.


I will post more updates as they come.:thumbsup:
 



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A little grinding can take care of that...
 



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subscribing..

i want to see what a 347 can put out power-wise and what kind of MPG you can expect from a heavy suv.

My 347 mounty got 18 MPG sometimes even a bit more.
 






My 347 mounty got 18 MPG sometimes even a bit more.

was that combined or just highway?

i cant seem to find any numbers (hp/tq) on the 347 truck that you sold. any guesstimates on it? i'm more concerned about the torque numbers :D
 






Good point Jon, I will make sure that gets checked out. I went down the path looking for tall SBF valve covers to make sure they clear the roller rockers. Everyone said for carb engines only.... The guys at Late Model Restoration (two of them) assured me no problems. One guy said he has the same covers and roller rockers on his personal car.

I did not notice any interference on either side when I put them on WITHOUT gaskets. Not to say there may not be an issue.

If there is an issue, there is grinding as was mentioned or get tall covers. I already have a 1" phenolic spacer for the intake.

What kind of MPG ?

Your guess is as good as mine. I look at it this way. I only drive a few miles to work each day and I don't care if it go 10mpg. I'll have fun doing it!!!
 












These mods, properly tuned, will give an increase in MPG , given it is driven the same.

The mere fact the engine is stroked will result in more torque with the same amount of energy applied to the pistons.
 






Like you guys, I am also curious what kind of numbers it will put out. After all the dust settles and james gets me all tuned up I want to do two things.

1 - go to the track (first time for everything)
2 - go to an AWD dyno in town. As long as it doesn't cost too much. The AWD dyno in town is geared towards exotics (porche's, lambo's, and the like)

i'll get some mpg numbers as well. need to change out the speedo gear first as i have larger than stock rubber.
 












Update

Truck went in the shop last Friday. Should be done sometime next week. I am going to be there when it is fired up for the first time. I want to be there to see it for one, but more importantly I need to datalog with my SCT tuner and wideband O2 hooked up. We are hoping the baseline tune is close enough to get the motor fired and a few heat cycles so the rings seat and we can get the new tranny filled with fluid.

Here is a wiring diagram for the Innovate Motorsports LC1 wideband 02 sensor and how it connects to the SCT analog cable that I put together. It may be useful for others with a SCT and LC1 wideband 02.

picture.php
 






Very nice Brad, I love the truck you are building. Thanks for the link to your thread, you can lead the way for the air inlet pipe for me etc.

Oh yeah, since you are making new cat pipes, see if your man can get the back of the front diff lowered at all. I thought of it from another person's exhaust thread, the pinion flange and u-joint are the tight spot for the left cat pipe. If those could be lowered any amount, that would make more room. There's three bolts holding the diff, to the frame, and the rear one is horizontal. I wonder if just a large washer in that one would be a helpful spacer. Just a thought,
 






Hey Don, I was looking under the truck while it was on the lift last week. I noticed how tight it really is on the downpipes, in and around the diff. I will look into the diff mount see if that helps with clearance.

Truck on lift
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DOHC cobra in foreground
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I got the idea from seeing more pictures of the front driveshaft here. The front driveshaft is prone to vibrations, and given Ford's going to a CV joint, I think the angle of the two ends is not good. Usually you want the input/output shafts to be parallel, these in the 95-01 Explorers are far from parallel. The front pinion shaft is pointed upward too much compared to the transfer case output shaft. I think if those were made more parallel, the driveshaft wouldn't be so likely to vibrate without the CV joint. It just happens to also be good for cat pipe clearance if that pinion angle can be lowered a bit. Think about it, but don't let your shop there do anything too radical. Plan it well. Night,
 






Can't wait to see the results from this beast! I see SRT8 jeeps in your tail lights for the future!!
 






With a big enough exhaust and tuned well, it will be very fast. I wish I could have done mine earlier too, that will be fun. Good inspiration.
 






thanks guys. After discussing the project with the my guy. I told him that I was going to get some exhaust work done. He was the one who suggested going with a mandrel bent set-up for both exhaust and new intake and tackling it himself. Obviously I liked the sounds of that and when going through the expense of having the best flowing parts in all other areas, why cut corners.

I just have to be patient because my guy is a one man shop. His reputation is very good and the cars i've seen in his shop are good. Just the waiting is punishing to me. But I know when I go in there and he spends the time to talk to me, he's not wrenching.

Its the same thing as Fordstrokers, small shop, good work, high demand = wait in line. Same can be said for Robert @ Torque Monster. Some things are worth the wait, can't rush quality etc.
 






The mandrel bent cat pipes will help a lot. The stock pipes are only 2.25", and who knows about the cats themselves. Those are the 2nd weak link of the exhaust, with the worst being the exhaust manifolds. The back part is actually the least important, but it has lots of room in our trucks.
 






Motor is in the truck and it runs and i'm driving it!!!!

:D:D :thumbsup:

as the title states, the motor is in and the truck is running !!! Sure took longer than I was hoping......

- Mr. Henson's baseline tune was good enough to make her a driver
- With that said it is no where near tuned, so I hope to get a new tune soon after James can go through my datalogging files
- Even without the truck fully tuned the truck pulls hard. Instead of just making noise like it was moving fast, now it actually moves fast.
- Lentech 4R70W trans seems to be working good so far. Shifts are firmer and quicker. I will wait until the engine is tuned better before I can form any real opinion on that.
- Overall just real happy it is completed and runs. Took lots of planning, research, reading, time, money and patience.


Few snags encountered.
- Fuel pump did not fit, so the factory pump is still in (Does anyone know of a DIRECT REPLACEMENT HIGH VOLUME fuel pump for the 5.0L?)
- Needed to fab a metal spacer between the intake elbow and trick flow intake because there was a slight gap on the intake elbow on the bottom where the EGR cavity is.
- In an effort to a little more resourcefull/economical a small section of the lower downpipes were re-used. A) they were in decent shape. B) kept the cost/custom work down. The rest was new 2.5" pipe with an extra bung welded in for the wideband 02 sensor and two brand new Magnaflow high flow cats.

Here are a few quick photos I took.

The red and blue wire are power and ground for the wideband 02 sensor. The sensor is just for temp use to get this thing tuned. I run the cable through the corner of the hood, and through the passenger window, into the truck where it hooks into the SCT tuner and laptop.
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picture.php

You can see the oil filler neck has been welded in place on the valve cover. The grommet set-up is useless and if you tried to pull the oil filler cap the whole neck would come with it. So this is obviously a better set-up. These short Trick Flow valve covers clear roller rockers in case anyone wanted to know.
picture.php


I will try and get more pictures and perhaps a video with a better camera soon. Also want to thank everyone again who has helped directly or indirectly with this. You know without being a member of this great web community that I would not have even started this project.
 












hahaa, I was just working on the signature.

If I had a 4406 I would go on a dyno. I am not paying what the guys in town want for AWD dyno session.

I guess i'll just have to hit up the 1/4 mile someday. :burnout:
 



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Congratulations!

A very significant accomplishment! I know that you must be busting with pride and satisfaction. James was always quick to turn around my datalogs with another tune adjustment. I bet you're checking your e-mail often.
 






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